GOP looks back on a successful election campaign

Setting the annual budget cap and saving the city money are two areas where a Republican Common Council majority will help Mayor Richard A. Moccia, he told The Hour on Wednesday.

"It probably will be easier to deal with the (operating budget) cap and the spending," Moccia said. "We are looking for every way to control costs. The budget is going to the priority and the union contracts."

Moccia's comments came Wednesday, a day after he won a third term, and his fellow Republicans captured at least nine seats on the 15-member council (one at-large race is headed for a recount, see related story).

Democrats held an 8-7 majority on the 2007-09 council. At times, council Democrats voted alongside Republicans, while at other times, they bucked the Republican mayor's initiatives.

In general, Moccia found few friction points.

"Quite honestly, I didn't have many problems getting appointments through under the old council, so I don't think we'll have any problems this time either," Moccia said.

Looking forward, Moccia said the new council will set a cap for the 2010-11 operating budget. Although the Board of Estimate & Taxation adopts the annual budget, the council is charged with setting the expenditures limit. For the 2009-10 budget, council Democrats sought unsuccessfully to raise the cap.

Moccia predicted the new council will address master plans for Cranbury and Veterans Memorial parks and deal with an uptick in crime. That latter issue will rest with the council's Health, Welfare and Public Safety Committee, and landing grants to combat crime, according to Moccia.

"One of the issues, as we know during the campaign, was the uptick in crime, and we need to deal with that. ... I never said it wasn't going to be a priority. I just thought some of the (campaign) dialogue was misrepresentative," Moccia said. "We'll see who the chairman of the health, safety and welfare committee is. (And) we're going to keep moving forward with our grant applications."

As far as a wish list, Moccia said he hopes the 2009-11 council will make improving energy efficiency for municipal vehicles and municipal buildings a priority.

The 2009-11 council will be seated Nov. 17. Democrats and Republicans have yet to select their respective leaders for the new council.

Democrat Carvin J. Hilliard, majority leader the past year, was re-elected unopposed to his District B seat Tuesday. He said Democrats on the new council will work with Moccia when it is "for the good of the city."

"Democrats will continue to work for the good of the city, and we'll work with the mayor when we can -- when we think it's for the good of the city," Hilliard said. But "we'll have some disagreements."

One of those disagreements may be, as Moccia indicated, the budget cap. Hilliard was among the council Democrats who sought to raise the cap in the 2009-10 budget. He said his concern was and remains education.

"You can say you believe in education, but it costs money. You have to put your money where your mouth is," Hilliard said. "I believe the future of the city depends on a educated populace."

Republicans performed well in Tuesday's municipal elections across southwestern Connecticut, retaining existing seats and capturing others previously held by Democrats, as evidenced in the Stamford mayoral race.

Moccia described the Republican victories as less important for getting things done -- "dealing with the other first selectmen and mayors, the party labels never came up too much" -- than for Republicans themselves.

"We've sort of recaptured the momentum, and I think the key to all Republicans, on a state and national level, is you have to be a moderate," Moccia said. "You have to address the issues, but you also have to be responsible and understand there are two sides to the issues."